Hey Peeps, how’s things? I’ve been busy as not only is it half term meaning Daisy is at home every day, but it was also her tenth birthday on Tuesday. I can’t believe my little girl is now in double digits! Her favourite presents were her Elsa dress and wig. There was a definite Frozen theme to her presents and party, as she shows no signs of growing out of that particular obsession just yet, despite me trying to nudge her into Minion fever

We also spent Monday at Crealy Adventure Park in Devon, and although the weather wasn’t up to much we had a really fun day. It was just about perfect for a child of Daisy’s age as there were lots of soft play and outdoor play areas, with a selection of rides that didn’t have much of a queue at all. The only ones that did were the two rollercoasters, and we were given a special pass for people with disabilities that allowed us to skip right to the front of the queue. Fantastic! I haven’t been on a rollercoaster in years and was worried they might make me feel nauseous these days, but I absolutely loved them. It’s only the really spinny things I need to steer clear of, it seems.

Gabriel’s favourite thing at Crealy was crawling around and investigating autumn leaves:

And Daisy looked great as a pirate!

Other than those things, I’m struggling to remember what I’ve been doing with my time. Lots of laundry, I think! I am a little more advanced in the anthology project, though, so that’s something. Also, I’ve nearly finished my new novelette, so that’s exciting. Should be able to get both those things published in November

Tomorrow I’ll be welcoming Liam Livings onto the blog who’ll be telling us about his new novel, the final part of the Best Friends Perfect trilogy. Hope some of you can stop by to say hello to him.

Right, I have stuff to do. Piles and piles of admin, and some more babyproofing in the living room. That boy is into everything!

What’s everyone else up to? Please share your news!

Love and hugs,

Jo xx

The post Birthday shenanigans and babyproofing appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Today let’s all give a warm welcome to Liam Livings, fellow writer and UK Meet organiser extraordinaire, who is here to promote his latest book, the final part of the Best Friends Perfect trilogy. And best yet, it’s out now!

How many frogs does a boy have to kiss, until he meets his Prince Charming?

That’s a bit like asking how long’s a piece of string? Or why does it take so long to grow out a hair colour when you want to change it, yet if you’ve just had a new colour put in your roots show through within seconds. One of life’s many mysteries I suppose.

Kieran does have to kiss quite a few frogs before he meets his Prince Charming. But he’s ever the optimistic each time he meets another man he thinks this will be the Prince Charming, because you never know how love’s going to turn out do you? You can’t start a relationship thinking this isn’t going to last, so I’ll hold something of myself back, because then it surely is doomed. You must love every time as if you’ve never been hurt, and this is exactly what Kieran does – throwing himself into each new relationship. Does he find his Prince Charming at the end of the series, and what about the other characters, do they get their happy ever afters? You’ll have to read the book to find out, but I will say this much; I love a happy ever after, and all my books include one, but you’ll have to read it to find out exactly what the happy means for each character, and how they all get there

What is your biggest extravagance?

Muriel, my Mazda MX5, she’s my ‘show pony’ car. It is a two seater soft top sports car with a small boot (enough for two weekend bags really) and a large engine that’s not exactly marvellous with fuel consumption. We have a perfectly good workhorse car for sensible things like trips to the allotment, the local recycling centre, shopping, motorway trips around the country, fitting five people inside. The Mazda was my present to myself a few years after moving to suburbia. Where I lived before in inner West London, I couldn’t have had a soft top car without the risk of the roof being ripped. I needed my own drive for that. Despite all its impracticalities, it is such fun to drive. Every time I get behind the wheel it puts a smile across my face, because it corners like it’s on rails, the roof comes down in seconds and even a cold day, with sunshine and the sky above you, and it’s like you’re flying. For putting that sort of smile on my face, it’s an extravagance I’m happy to continue with. The biggest cost of running a car isn’t the fuel, the servicing, the insurance, it’s the depreciation, but most people don’t factor that in because it’s not something you pay for yearly, monthly or weekly. You buy the car, and then sell it for a lower price some time later. Because the MX5 is 13 years old, it’s on a classic car insurance policy, which costs bobbins, and it doesn’t depreciate much each year, so as long as I can afford to run it, it’s not actually costing very much money. It’s certainly not needed so I suppose it is an extravagance, but as far as extravagances go, it’s pretty modest! Modestly extravagant – maybe that should be my strap line!

The characters’ greatest extravagances are probably going out, clothes and music. They don’t’ have much money as they’re students, but the pull of going out with friends and buying the latest music is too strong to resist. The story is about sharing with the characters a time before responsibilities like electricity bills and mortgages or rent happened, and the most important purchase was whether to buy the latest CD single from The Spice Girls, a pair of platform trainers, or have a night out with friends.

Can you hop into the series at this point, (the final book in the trilogy) or do you need to have read the first two books?

Absolutely. Each book in the series stands alone. You quickly get to know the characters and their relationship with Kieran, the narrator. Each book has its own self contained story – Book one is about Kieran first meeting his new gay friends and exploring that world. Book two is about Kieran and Jo’s travels around Australia together. Book three is about Kieran going to University in London and the new friends he meets there, as well as how they integrate with his friends from back home. The overall story arc across the three books is about friendships and how they can sometimes turn out to not be quite what you thought they were. There’s also an ongoing romantic thread linking the three stories – Kieran’s search for his Prince Charming, and the trials and tribulations of finding love in the late nineties in Hampshire, London and Australia.

Best Friends Perfect Book Three

What happens when your perfect new best friend isn’t so perfect after all?

1999, Kieran, 18 is at uni searching London for Prince Charming with new best friend, Jo. Between his new uni friends, American students Julie and The Sarahs, his work at the hospital and his studies he’s keeping himself busy.

But all Kieran wants is to share this with Jo, but he’s disappeared with his boyfriend, Irish student Andrew.  Why doesn’t Sean call Kieran back?

And then something happens to turn Kieran’s world upside down, when he really needs his friends around him.

How far can you really push a practical joke? How many frogs does a boy have to kiss, until he meets his Prince Charming? And what do you do when your friend can’t see what’s in front of his face?

Available from Wilde City Press http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-mainstream/best-friends-perfect-book-3/

If you’d like to win a copy of one of Liam’s ebooks, please comment below about how many frogs a boy has to kiss before he meets his Prince Charming or what your greatest extravagance is, and include your email address and a week after this post is live, he’ll draw names out of an electronic hat. Good luck!

About Liam Livings

Liam Livings lives where east London ends and becomes Essex. He shares his house with his boyfriend and cat. He enjoys baking, cooking, classic cars and socialising with friends. He escapes from real life with a guilty pleasure book, cries at a sad, funny and camp film – and he’s been known to watch an awful lot of Gilmore Girls in the name of writing ‘research’.

He has written since he was a teenager, started writing with the hope of publication in 2011. His writing focuses on friendships, British humour, romance with plenty of sparkle.

You can connect with Liam

Twitter @LiamLivings

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/liam.livings

Blog http://www.liamlivings.com/blog

Website www.liamlivings.com

The post Best Friends Perfect Book 3 – guest blog by Liam Livings appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Hi everyone! Today I am bringing you my first blog post via the medium of dictation. This is an experiment for me to see whether or not I can get used to dictating things, so that eventually I can dictate all my books in an effort to get more titles out there for you lovely readers to pick up.

At the moment I have sent an email and posted a Facebook status update, and I am going to be practising with texts. For this I am using an app on my phone which then emails the transcript to me so I can put it on the blog. It’s really fun! I do feel like a bit of a twat sitting here talking deliberately into my phone but I’m sure I’ll get over that with practice. What surprises me is how long it’s taken me to try out this technology, considering I’ve had a phone capable of it for the last couple of years. I think I was put off by listening to Andy arguing with Siri on a regular basis. She never seem to understand what he was asking her to do and it would always degenerate into Andy insulting her and her saying and her saying “Now, now”. However, this DragonDictate app seems to do a better job than Siri does at understanding what you’re asking, although it will take me a while to get the hang of punctuation, and I’m having to go through all this in Word to make sure it’s correct. That aside, I thoroughly recommend it to any of you writers out there or anyone who has any need at all of sending written words. Which, let’s face it, is nearly everyone.

So what else has been going on in my life? Yesterday I went to IKEA with my sister and braved the Christmas shopping crowds. I hadn’t realised people were Christmas shopping already, which just goes to show how out of touch I am these days. I suppose I should get organised and think about Christmas shopping myself…

Winter seems to be here at last and so I don’t want to go outside much. I have been getting on with making Gabriel’s puff quilt, however, and that’s going really well. Maybe when I finished it I’ll actually manage to finish a couple of those quilts I started for the house many many years ago. You never know, I might!

Apart from all this I have been cosying up with Andy getting into Scandi noir crime dramas. They are our latest obsession. It started with The Bridge, then we moved onto The Killing, and now I think we’re going to have to try Arne Dahl. I was excited to see the BBC have the third series of The Bridge coming on soon, but not soon enough for our liking. Our well, we’ll just have to wait a few weeks. Is anyone else out there addicted to these Scandi noir crime dramas? I just can’t get enough of them!

Okay, that’s the dictated part of the post done with. I’m back to typing now, not that I suppose you’ll notice any difference. The other news is that JL Merrow and I have a short paranormal anthology coming out on Thursday, called Boys Who Go Bump in the Night. Isn’t Lou Harper’s cover pretty?! I’ll be posting more about that on Thursday, so watch this space!

Right, back to formatting that final ebook file…

How’s everyone doing?

Love and hugs,

Jo x

The post My first dictated post! appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Happy release day to me and JL Merrow! Yes it is finally the day that our joint anthology, Boys Who Go Bump in the Night, is released on the unsuspecting world.This collection of five short stories is the second volume in our Mad About the Brit Boys collection. Not heard of this collection before? That’s probably because we didn’t realise we were starting one with the first book. Mad About the Boys was our collection of MMF short stories, released two years ago. Seeing as how we would be better known for our gay romance stories, we were at a loss as to what to do with these short stories when the rights reverted to us. So of course what better idea than that hatched over breakfast in the Ibis hotel, Manchester: to self publish them in an anthology together.

Fast forward and we had a whole batch of rights reverting to us on our old short stories, so we decided to create anthologies grouping together different genres. We are kicking off with the paranormal one, and up next will be the science fiction one (Help, My Boyfriend’s an Alien!) available in January 2016. Watch out for an MMM anthology in the spring as well as a contemporary MM anthology. More details to follow as we finalise them.

As an experiment this anthology is only going to be released on Amazon so that we can take advantage of the Kindle Select program. What this means is that readers who are members of Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited will be able to borrow the book for free, but don’t worry if you’re not as the full price is only $0.99 or £0.99. Of course this doesn’t help those of you if you aren’t able to read Kindle files for whatever reason. If you are in this position and want to read the book then please send me a screen shot confirming your Amazon purchase, and I will arrange to send you an alternative file format of your choice (contact jo@josephinemyles.com)

I will be back with news of some promotional blog posts over the next few days, but until then here are the links for the book:

Kindle US | Kindle UK
Happy reading!

The post New release: Boys Who Go Bump in the Night appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Photo credit: Ladyheart from morguefile.com

As I’m sure most of you blog followers know, I’ve been trying to get back into writing since ending my maternity leave. I’ve managed to write 15,000 words since the middle of September. It’s definitely better than nothing, and more words than I wrote in the previous year, but I’m going to have to do better than this. The alternative is going out and getting a day job, which I don’t want to do as then I’d have to find child care for Gabriel. One of the best things about being a writer is being able to be at home for my children when they need me.

So I need to write more words in The limited time I have available. I couldn’t work out how to do this until this last week when a link on Facebook lead me to Monica Leonelle’s Write Better Faster . Although I don’t agree 100% with all of her methods, there is a lot there I can use. I’ve already started using dictation in a limited manner. For instance I’m dictating this blog post into my phone while Gabriel eats his breakfast. But the real revelation ties in with something I already knew deep down: I need to start writing outlines. Detailed outlines where I describe exactly what needs to happen in each scene. I’ve resisted this for a long time because I think of myself as a discovery writer. The stories seem to come to me out of nowhere as I’m writing them. I’m often surprised by plot developments, but of course this often means I end up having to go back and re-write earlier chapters. I think part of my problem with outlining is that I started doing it with Barging In, but then found the plot changed and twisted as I was writing. However, I am a much more experienced writer these days and feel I can better predict what the final shape of a story will be.

I also know that I always get derailed by times of not writing, like holidays or the period after I finish a book and get stuck into edits. As a consequence, I think I need to keep up a weekday writing habit all year round, even if at times it’s just a few sentences spoken into the dictation software on my phone.

Yes, I even plan to write something on Christmas Day!

So then, my challenge is to do the following:

• Write something (fiction) every weekday, even if it’s only a couple of sentences or a short writing exercise.
• To prepare for my daily writing session by taking time at the beginning of the day to read through the outline for the scene I’m going to tackle later on. This will let my subconscious get going on it in advance.
• Make writing my first priority when Gabriel goes down for a nap each morning. Housework and admin can wait!
• Write a minimum of 7500 words per week (fiction)
• Write a minimum of 350,000 words per annum. This translates as three full-length novels, one shorter novel and a novella.
• To work on 2-3 different length projects at a time, hopping between them so I can always write the scenes I’m most inspired by.
• To get my writing speed up to 2000 words an hour (currently approx 1500 on a very good day)
• To keep editing as an ongoing task in addition to writing new fiction every weekday.
• To keep weekends free for family, friends and sewing.
• And most of all, to rediscover the joy of writing when the words flow freely.

I think that’s plenty for now. I’ll be posting weekly updates on how I’m doing every Friday.

Anyone else want to take a daily writing habit challenge with me?

The post My daily writing habit challenge appeared first on Josephine Myles.

So, this writing challenge thing I posted about the other day is going well so far. I’m really getting back into my flow and the words are going faster than ever. Will report in more detail tomorrow, but it’s great to be getting back to work properly!

I feel like winter is really here now. We’ve had a couple of days of rain and high winds, it’s getting cold and my bathroom is needing regular bleaching for mildew (boo! Rubbish landlord won’t fix the extractor fan). But with winter comes cosying in with a good book, and snuggling up on the sofa with Andy watching telly, along with plenty of shepherd’s pie. So it’s not all bad

I’ve mostly been reading writing books to help me up my productivity and get better with the planning stage of writing novels. But that doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned fiction altogether. Am currently getting a delicious sneak peek into the next JL Merrow Plumber’s Mate book, not out till sometime in 2016. Having writer friends is great!

There’s also been some smashing telly on the BBC just lately. Am devouring the new Viking series, The Last KIngdom (like Game of Thrones but with a much better sense of humour and none of the fantasy bollocks), and London Spy is intriguing so far. That one features a gay MC for those who are interested in that kind of thing. Which is probably most of you reading this blog, let’s face it

Some of you might remember me posting a month or two back about going to look at a bungalow with the intention of buying it. Someone pipped us to the post, but it’s fallen through and it’s now back on the market, at a greatly reduced price. It’s a really interesting property on a decent size plot with plenty of potential for extending. Wish us luck *fingers crossed*

Asides from that life is ambling along much as usual. I’ve nearly finished Gabriel’s quilt and I’m starting to feel like I might just about be able to get on top of this whole writing mother of two kids and general household dogsbody thing

Now I’m off to cook dinner and do the washing up. Good thing I love my family!

How’s everyone else doing? Share your news!

Big hugs,

Jo xx

The post Busy writer is busy appeared first on Josephine Myles.

So, how am I doing with my new challenge?

I think it’s been a great success! This week I’ve written every weekday (weekends will be left free whenever possible) for approximately an hour, and I’ve broken the 7.5k mark like I hoped. Those hours were roughly split between Custom Fit (the long awaited Tailor Made sequel) and my new novelette, Bugger My Neighbour (it’s only a working title!)

All I really had to do differently was to prioritise writing above all else when Gabriel went down for his nap. And you know what, the other chores haven’t really suffered, as I’ve felt so energised by getting the writing done that I’ve been able to do more in the rest of the day. What’s more, I’m finding the words flowing faster, getting up to 1800 words per hour by the end of the week.

What’s helped has been changing the length of the “pomodoros” I use to divide up my writing session. Instead of two 25 min ones, I’ve moved to two 40 min ones. I can still fit those both in usually, and I find it’s giving me a better writing speed as I don’t get interrupted by a break when I’m in full flow. Another thing that’s really helped is starting to take five minutes at the beginning of every writing session to make a detailed plan of what’s going into the scene I’m about to write. Why didn’t I do this years ago?!

I also managed to get in some more scene planning for Custom Fit and a quick read through of the BMN rough draft of 15k, so all the words added this week are for bits I discovered I’d skipped over. From now on, this book really only needs content editing (okay, and a few scene transitions and endings writing)

So, here are the results:

Total word count: 7538

Total for Custom Fit: 3874

Total for Bugger My Neighbour: 3664

Anyone else got any writing (or other) success stories to share this week?

Jo x

The post Daily Writing Habit Challenge: week one results appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Yep, I didn’t mean to release a book on Thanksgiving–I had intended to release it yesterday but then Amazon took a while to get it uploaded, and since time is of the essence when catching pre-Christmas sales, I didn’t want to wait until after the Americans have finished stuffing themselves with turkey.

So anyway, Twinkle, Twinkle is a short story I wrote back in 2010. It was published by Dreamspinner that Christmas as part of their Daily Dose series. And since I only realised that it had gone off sale last week, I’ve had to rush to get a second edition ready in time for the annual festival of maximum consumption

Fortunately Lou Harper came to the rescue with a top-notch cover, and so here you have it: Twinkle, Twinkle was only ever available on the Dreamspinner site before, and now it’s exclusive to Amazon for the bargain price of 0.99 (dollars, pounds and euros).

Kindle US | Kindle UK

(If you want to read Twinkle, Twinkle but your ereader doesn’t work with mobi files, just let me know and I’ll send you a pdf or epub. I’ll just need to see a screenshot of your proof of purchase from Amazon)

And here’s the brand-spanking new blurb to entice anyone not sure about reading (or indeed, whether they’ve read it before!)

When old schoolmates meet again, sparks fly!

It’s Christmas Eve, and down in Accident and Emergency Dr. Tom Berriman really hasn’t got into the festive spirit. Newly returned to his home town, he’s missing the big city he left behind and can’t get enthusiastic about a holiday he’ll be spending on his own. That is until he catches sight of the attractive electrician fixing the lights—who promptly crashes down out of the ceiling and becomes Tom’s patient. Tom can’t believe his luck…until he realises he knows the man already.

Electrician Vince has changed out of all recognition since they were at school together, where Vince was the butt of all the bullies’ jibes—and worse—while nursing a hopeless crush on Tom.

If the newly-hunky Vince can forgive his former tormentor, and Tom can get over his lingering guilt, maybe their Christmases won’t be quite so lonely after all.

***

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends, and happy almost-December to the rest of the world!

Love and hugs,

Jo xxx

The post I haz a new (old) Christmas story out! appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Week two of my writing challenge began with a large hurdle, but one I knew I would have to face sooner or later: not getting enough sleep for a few nights in a row (baby wanting to feed at nighttime. Grrr!). I was exhausted on Monday and Tuesday but I made myself sick down at the laptop when Gabriel had his nap. After all, this needs to become a daily habit. Despite really not feeling like writing I spent five minutes thinking about the scene, and surprised myself with managing a full 25 minutes of writing on both days. After that I needed a nap, but at least I managed to achieve a small word count for both days.

Although there were two days with a low word count at the beginning of the week, I got back on track and managed to make up the shortfall on Thursday. And all this on a week I had to rush to get an ebook self-published! It’s no wonder I didn’t get around to any editing.

Things that have surprised me this week:

• It doesn’t actually seem to make any difference how tired I am as to how fast I write. I assumed I’d write slower when tired, but on the Wednesday I actually nodded off for a moment while writing (lucid dreaming) during the session I achieved my fastest writing speed. And bizarrely enough, it didn’t affect the quality of the writing one bit.
• I write just as fast after lunch as before. I’d always assumed I wrote slower in the afternoon as I felt sluggish, but it seems once I get over the idea that isn’t a good writing time for me, I can be just as productive as in the morning.
• Writing anything early on in a day makes me feel so much happier and less stressed about the whole situation (being a writer who hasn’t had a new book out in nine months). The psychological effect of sitting down and writing for even just half an hour is a massive boost, and it really does seem to get easier day by day.
• And finally, I seem to write snappy dialogue the fastest. Okay, maybe that shouldn’t come as a surprise, but I’d always assumed that the speech marks and punctuation were slowing me down. I guess not.

Here then, are the results for this week. I’ve decided to track a few extra metrics so that I can better plan my working week in future.

• Total days written on: 5
• Top writing speed achieved: 1982 wph
• Average writing speed: 1671 wph
• Total word count: 7569 (all on Custom Fit)

Does anyone else have any writing success stories to share? I love to hear from you all!

Jo x

The post Daily Writing Habit Challenge: week two results appeared first on Josephine Myles.

This report is coming to you a little later than usual as last week was just a bit of a ‘mare. Okay, it wasn’t awful–aside from a few minor stresses I was very happy, but it seemed like there were appointments booked up on every day that interfered with my writing time. And then on Thursday when I can usually catch up, I had to take Daisy over to Bath for a hearing test (she’s fine, btw). In the end I was feeling frazzled on Friday and when I sat down to write, Gabriel woke up. I could have caught up in the evening, but was too tired and so sat and wrote on Saturday morning instead. Not something I want to do often, but at least it allowed me to (nearly) hit my word count goal for the week.

Things I noted this week:

• My fastest writing speed was in the session on Saturday when Andy was in the room watching telly. Perhaps when I have to work to tune out distractions it actually makes me go deeper into focus? Maybe I should try writing a session in a café. After all, if it worked for JK Rowling and her baby…
• I didn’t find any time for editing but that’s okay. It’s just if things carry on like this (and with Christmas around the corner, let’s face it, they might), I will have to knock my word count goals down for a few weeks so I can get Cam Boy (the story formerly known as Bugger My Neighbour) ready to go out to an editor. And then Custom Fit won’t be long to follow! If I do have to do this I will still have a daily word count goal, as I think the habit is extremely valuable.
• I am rapidly running out of new scenes to work on in Custom Fit. That’s not to say it’s nearly finished–this is a rough draft and there’s padding and transitions that need adding in (I always tend to underwrite), but that falls more under the guise of editing than creating fresh word count as it takes longer. That means I’ll have to find time this week to hash out an outline for the next story. I want to start both a novella and a longer novel in the new year.

So here’s the breakdown stats:

• Total days written on: 5
• Top writing speed achieved: 1951 wph
• Average writing speed: 1657 wph
• Total word count: 7140 (all on Custom Fit)

Anyone else got any writing (or other important things) done this last week they want to shout about?

Jo x

The post Daily Writing Habit Challenge: week three results appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Okay, so after three weeks of making my word count target, we finally have a week when I didn’t. This is especially interesting as it’s when outside events make it a struggle that I can really learn about what works for me.

Thoughts about this week:

• After a couple of really busy weeks in terms of real life appointments, plus Christmas preparation, I’m feeling a bit burnt out. I could have worked really hard on Friday and made myself write 2500 to make up the word count, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Instead, after just 190 words, I decided to take some “me time” and do something else. That turned out to be watching House while crocheting a beret for my Mum’s Christmas present. Best decision I made all week!
• I’m now at the nitty-gritty end of the book where I’m filling in scenes I haven’t really wanted to work on before. It’s necessarily going to be a bit slower as these are the scenes I find challenging to write.
• The next three weeks are going to be dominated by Christmas stuff and family time, so I’m going to set myself a 5000 word a week target for each of them, and not be upset if I don’t manage it. So long as I sit down and write something (ANYTHING!), five days a week, I’ll be happy
• When writing we need to take time to “refill the well” of inspiration. That means if I feel burnt out and stressed at the idea of writing, it’s time to step back and unwind.

Results for this week:

• Total days written on: 5
• Top writing speed achieved: 1815 wph
• Average writing speed: 1580 wph
• Total word count: 5230 (all on Custom Fit)

How’s everyone else doing? Any successes to share?

Jo x

The post Daily Writing Habit Challenge: week four results appeared first on Josephine Myles.

I might not have a story in the Brit Boys collection this time around, but it sounds great! Here’s the details:

Out Today, Brit Boys: With Toys, a collection of 8 M/M novellas written by 8 top British M/M authors. All stories feature British characters and the stories are in British locations. This seriously sexy boxed set is initially available at the bargain price of 99c/99p, (that’s a steal for 422 pages of unforgettable M/M literary entertainment that will leave your eReader, and you, burning up) so go and treat yourself this festive season to some uniquely British man-on-man erotic romance, or if you have Kindle Unlimited, grab a copy for free.

With stories by

Ashe Barker

MK Elliott

Lucy Felthouse

KD Grace

Lily Harlem

Ashley Lister

Sarah Masters

Tabitha Rayne

Back Cover Information

From coast to coast and city to country Brit boys enjoy playing with each other and their toys. Not any old toys, though; guitars, rope, plugs and Moleskine journals all prove to be enormous fun. Throw in a shop that’s wall to wall with kinky ideas, a journalist on the lookout for the next big thing, and Dominants who insist on obedience and there’s sure to be something to cater for everyone’s taste.

Whether it’s a quickie or a slow indulgence, Brit boys know how to hit the spot and they aim to please every time. So take a ride, fly high, come enjoy these sexy boys and their toys.

Brit Boys: With Toys is an anthology of M/M stories written by British authors, featuring British characters in British locations.

Available now on Amazon.

Brit Boys: With Toys

Hard Riders

By Ashe Barker

If there’s one thing Liam loves more than a scorching hot lust-on-wheels superbike, it’s the gorgeous sexy guy who owns such a dream machine. When Jackson finds him all but drooling over his tyres and offers him a ride Liam takes no persuading at all. Soon they discover that their mutual fascination with boys’ toys is not limited to the two-wheeled variety, so it’s just as well that Jackson owns his own sex shop and Liam’s job leaves plenty of scope for dressing up.

But real life is much more than just a few kinky games, and has an unfortunate habit of getting in the way.

All Roped Up

By M K Elliott

When Alex Fraser interviews Conner ‘Big-Mac’ McCaughey, the champion of London’s bare-knuckle boxing scene, he has more than just the fighter in his sights. Hoping to expose the fight club’s illegal dealings, Alex will stop at nothing to get the story, including doing whatever Conner asks.

The moment Conner sees Alex Fraser, all he can think about is what the young reporter will look like bound. Shibari—the ancient art of rope bondage—is the fighter’s passion, and he can’t think of anyone else he’d like to practise on more.

But Alex’s quest to expose the truth could land them both in serious danger…

Doctor’s Orders

By Lucy Felthouse

Hospital porter Aaron Miller isn’t expecting a very exciting birthday. He and his doctor boyfriend, Blake Colville, are working opposite shifts, leaving Aaron to go home to an empty house and the prospect of another shift the following day. Just as he’s leaving work, however, an unexpected sexy encounter in a supply cupboard leaves him feeling in a much more celebratory mood. And an impending dirty weekend away with Blake just puts the icing on the non-existent cake. But who needs cake when you’re dating a dominant doctor?

Toys for Boys

By K D Grace

Alpha Nerd, Will Charles teams up with Caridoc ‘Doc’ Jones in a coast to coast walk across England reviewing outdoor gift suggestions for the Christmas edition of Toys for Boys—an online magazine dedicated to the latest gadgets to tickle a man’s fancy. Will is recording their adventures with the latest smart phone technology. Doc is reviewing the latest outdoor gear. The two quickly discover the great outdoors provides even better toys for boys, toys best shared al fresco, toys that, in spite of Will’s great camera work, will never be reviewed in Toys for Boys.

Mile High Kink Club

By Lily Harlem

Rhodri’s looking for love, but not ordinary love. He needs a man who’ll bend to his will, submit to his desires and obey his every command–including chastity.

So when Gay Hook Ups finds his perfect partner it’s well worth a trip to London. What he doesn’t bet on is his fragile-looking match being a sharp and successful entrepreneur. So when things between them soar, will he unlock the passion, free his desire and will they reach the dizzying heights of ecstasy together? It all depends on whether Darius is prepared to be caged in order to be set free.

Open Mike

By Ashley Lister

Ken finds Mike reading poetry in a bar. Mike is confident and clever and seems capable of teaching Ken everything he needs to know about poetry. And, when Ken asks for his guidance, Mike gladly offers to share his expertise. Consequently, when Mike offers to share more than his expertise in poetry, Ken discovers there are a lot more things he wants to learn from him.

I Get You

By Sarah Masters

Morton is Warren’s boss, and they fancy each other like crazy. Except neither of them has the courage to say so, until Warren blurts out an inkling of his feelings. Morton is stunned by Warren’s offer for them to go away together, but not half as stunned as Warren when Morton accepts. Both of them are pretending to be someone they’re not. And both of them soon realise that being yourself is the best bet.

The Guitar

By Tabitha Rayne

When shy, awkward Kel plays guitar, it’s the only time he feels at home in his own skin. On stage he can hide in plain sight behind his band and the music. It turns him on to play and he can’t help rubbing up against his guitar. Kel is enraptured by a guy he sees every night in the audience and is shocked when this gorgeous guy seems to notice him. So full of his own self-loathing, Kel just can’t accept that someone as perfect as Damien wants to be with him. Will his insecurities put their happiness in jeopardy?

Grab your copy now from Amazon.

And if you want more Brit Boys, check out the first anthology, Brit Boys: On Boys, available from Amazon and all other good ebook retailers.

The post Out today: Brit Boys: With Toys appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Yes, my latest antho with the lovely JL Merrow is out now–exclusively on Amazon!

It contains two stories by JL Merrow which were previously published in Making Contact, an anthology from Dreamspinner Press. And my contribution is Insta-Love™, previously available as a standalone short from Dreamspinner, but has been unavailable for over a year now. We’re both thrilled to be able to put these science fiction shorts back in the hands of readers, and we hope they persuade a few more people to give sci-fi a try!

You can find the anthology for sale here, and there’s a guest post over on Sinfully Gay Romance with a giveaway too. JL Merrow and I argue over which is best, Star Wars or Star Trek. Come and share your thoughts!

http://sinfullymmbookreviews.blogspot.de/2016/01/featured-guest-authors-jl-merrow.html

PS: Andy would like to make it known he isn’t actually an alien, and I should stop making up stupid book titles

The post Help, My Boyfriend’s an Alien! out today :D appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Yep, Locked Out is out today, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

The eagle-eyed among you will probably spot that this was originally part of the Brit Boys: on Boys multi-author anthology bundle. Well, now the exclusive contract period is over I decided to offer it as a standalone novelette. It’s a saucy romantic comedy, and at just 99 cents/pennies, it’s an affordable little treat

Blurb:

Clothing is overrated…

Getting accidentally locked out of his hotel room on Valentine’s Day night is embarrassing enough for teacher Martin Cooper, but the fact he’s stark naked makes it even worse. It doesn’t help that the one person he runs into is Rod, the gorgeous man he’d been checking out earlier in the hotel pool. But when Rod offers Martin a refuge, the night heats up. Now if only Martin could get the hang of this seduction business…

Amazon | Amazon UK | All Romance eBooks (link to come)

And much as I’d love to give you an update on everything that’s been going on in my life, I have a little boy walking around with no nappy on, so I’d better get going! Blog post coming soon…

Big hugs,

Jo x

The post I haz a new (old) book out! appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Psst, want A sneak peak at my next book, Einstein’s Peep Show? There’s a cover reveal over on Sinfully, and the pre-order link is included in the post. Oh and there’s an excerpt too! 

http://sinfullymmbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/cover-reveal-einsteins-peep-show_10.html

The post Take a peep at the Peep Show! appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Yep, I scheduled a new release for my birthday. I must be insane! Anyway, here’s me with letting you know the deets. It would be absolutely marvellous if you could all buy this and send it to the top of the Amazon charts. What a wonderful birthday present! /hint, grovel, hint/

Einstein’s Peep Show is a fairly quick, fun read at 24,000 words, but hopefully sweet and sexy enough to give you all satisfaction. I’m guessing fans of my humour should really enjoy this one!

Buy it here!

You can also read a guest post about my research into cam modelling over on Sinfully Gay Romance Book Reviews today: http://sinfullymmbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/featured-guest-author-josephine-myles.html

Happy reading, peeps! Me and my mate Rach are off for lunch in a minute, and the sun is shining. Yay!

Love and hugs,

Jo x

The post I have my very own Birthday Einstein! appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Hey peeps, how’s things?!

I’ve missed blogging and reading all your comments, but so far 2016 has been kicking my arse and I’ve just needed a bit of time and space. Here’s a cute picture of the kids, followed by a quick recap of what’s been going on here at Myles HQ:

Househunting:

I spent January in crazy house viewing mode, averaging 3-4 a week. Eventually found the right place at the right price. It’s a 60s bungalow with a great big main room and a decent sized garden. Also, fab retro decor. Should be moving over Easter, fingers crossed.

Illness:

The family has been hit with illness after illness. First a hideous head cold, then a stomach bug (we all got that one. Ugh!), then a nasty coughing bug, then Gabriel had an upset stomach again on Monday. I don’t think we’ve managed an entire week without one of us being ill. I’m so over winter, right now. Roll on summer!

Also, my mum has been hospitalised three times (for over 10 days each time) for a recurrent lung infection, that won’t get better until she’s had surgery. And no date set yet for the surgery, although hopefully that will be over Easter. Right about when we move house. Excellent timing. Not.

Writing:

I haven’t done any writing. What I have been doing is editing Einstein’s Peep Show, and doing all the annoying tasks self-publishing abounds with. There are blogs to write, website updates, press packs to prepare, ebook files to compile and check and recompile (that’s my least favourite), and so on. Now I need to find some time to edit Custom Fit. Here’s hoping Mum has a couple of healthy weeks ahead as I’ll need her help with childcare!

Family:

Aside from the illness and househunting stress, things have been good, honest. Daisy and Gabriel are the sweetest, loveliest kids a parent could ask for, and Andy is a rock. Not in the sullen, won’t talk or budge from in front of the computer sense, thankfully!

Gabriel is now officially a toddler as he walks everywhere rather than crawls. He’s such a sweetie, and getting faster and steadier every day.

Entertainment:

We’ve had to cancel all manner of nights out what with losing Mum’s babysitting service, and illness, but at least we’ve had some good telly to watch. Am on series 2 of Game of Thrones and just about to start series 3 of The Mentalist. Also have been watching all the Sharpe TV movies which I never saw the first time around. How did I miss them?

And I’ve been reading again too. Just finished KJ Charles’ A Seditious Affair (brilliant!) and am enjoying a complete change of pace with Amy Jo Cousins’ Off Campus (also brilliant!)

Crafting:

I’ve allowed myself to have 20 minutes a day of sewing and/or knitting (no matter how busy things are), and have managed to make lots of progress so that feels great. Funny how all those seemingly insignificant amounts of time add up quickly. I’ve posted a few times over on my sewing blog, so if you have any interest in checking out what I’ve made then please head on over. At the moment I’ve almost finished a dress for myself, and have just started knitting some socks for Gabriel

And I think that’s most of what’s been going on. I’m pleased to report I’m feeling happy and healthy right now, so that’s positive. I just want to stick my head in the sand about the whole moving house thing. I mean, I’m looking forward to having moved, just not being in the state of moving. Ah well, it will all be over soon enough, and then I get to do fun things like setting up a vegetable garden,because I definitely need more stuff to do…

How’s everyone else doing? Give me your news!

Big hugs,

Jo x

The post Much belated blog catch up appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Or something like that, anyway. The latest in mine and JL Merrow’s series of anthologies, Mad About the Brit Boys, is finally out. This time it’s a collection of m/m/m ménage stories, called Boy Meets Boy Meets Boy. Don’t you just love Lou Harper’s cover art?!

This is an Amazon exclusive for $0.99/£0.99 (and where the hell’s that Euro sign? Oh yeah, there it is)/€0.99. Other currencies are available. Probably.

Buy it now! Go on, you know you want to.

Or you can read it on Amazon for free if you’re one of those Kindle Unlimited peeps.

The eagle-eyed may notice that this is my ménage story that originally appeared in the Necking anthology from Dreamspinner Press, along with one of Jamie’s stories.

That’s all for now. Happy reading, people! I’m getting back to my latest “gonna change my life” book, Getting Things Done. I can see where I’ve been going wrong and getting stressed as a result. I have a lot of organising to do, but am actually looking forward to it this time…

Big hugs,

Jo xxx

The post Three men for the price of two! appeared first on Josephine Myles.

I think anyone who’s read Junk will know that decluttering is something very much on my mind. I blame my dad who’s a major hoarder (although kept under control by my mum who isn’t), and who has passed on his hoarding tendencies to all three of his daughters.

I’m actually doing much better than either of my sisters in terms of resisting clutter and object accumulation, thanks in a large part to reading the wonderful The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. Yes, the Japanese lady might be quite bonkers, but a lot of what she advocates really resonates with me. I’ve been increasingly asking myself whether my possessions are actually bringing me joy, and most of the time the answer is a resounding NO!!! I’m now finding it much easier to let go of broken things I’m never really going to get fixed, and the things people have given me that I’ve felt guilty about wanting to get rid of. I really don’t need stuff around the place making me feel guilty.

I still have a long way to go as having a baby and moving house got in the way of my complete house overhaul–in particular I need to go through all my crafting stuff and my boxes of sentimental things. Mostly my old school work and Daisy’s drawings.

So, decluttering might be an ongoing process but I think it’s going pretty well. However, the area I’ve really fallen down in is my admin organisation. I’m nowhere near as bad as I was before the major konmari paperwork purge, but I’ve been feeling increasingly stressed by all the things I have to remember (house stuff, family stuff, writing stuff, etc) and not really able to rely on any of my existing organisational systems. The Pomodoro Technique has helped me get more work done in short bursts of time, and I’m loving the Trello app for organising some of my plans (sewing plans, mainly), but I still haven’t found the answer.

Until now, I think.

Thanks to a chance link in a blog post I was reading, I found my way to David Allen’s Getting Things Done. Now, I’m not generally a fan of reading “business” books as they can be so dry, but the subtitle really caught my attention: “How to achieve stress-free productivity”.

Yes! I need this. I’m pretty productive at the moment, all things considered, but as I’ve tried to work more I’ve been finding my stress levels rising. Some of you probably remember my application of the pomodoro technique before Christmas. I got two draft manuscripts written in record time, but by the end I was totally stressed out and spent the next month coming down with one illness after another. Also, I hadn’t even really considered how I was going to get those books edited and published, all of which takes huge amounts of time and energy.

Somewhere along the line I lost track of planning.

So, I’ve been reading Allen’s book and so far everything has resonated with me. There’s nothing particularly new here–you just use methods you’re probably already using to some degree–but what’s different is the strategy behind it. You make sure you capture all your ideas the moment you have them so you don’t have to rely on your short term memory, but you have to capture them in a way that you trust yourself to monitor and review. This is where I’ve been going wrong. Making notes but never looking at them again. Losing lists. Having lists in too many different places. Saving things I should be getting rid of, and so on…

So for the next couple of weeks I’m getting my admin in order, then moving house, and I’m going to worry about getting Custom Fit edited after that. Expect to see it in June. Probably.

You know what, I’m feeling more energised and happy than I have done in months. Years, perhaps. Woohoo!

Anyone else here decluttering or getting organised? Do you have any good tips or links?

The post The light at the end of the (cluttered) tunnel appeared first on Josephine Myles.

Yep, it’s time for you all to get your hands on Truly, Madly, Boys: the latest book in the Mad About the Brit Boys anthology series–woohoo!

This time Jamie and I have gathered together four of our contemporary male/male erotic romance short stories, and I can honestly say I think this anthology is the best of the bunch. It contains a couple of my stories written back in 2010, along with a couple from Jamie. I’m particularly thrilled about this release as it contains one of the short stories I’m most proud of writing. Up until now “Without Words” was buried in a multi-author anthology from Xcite, that as far as I could tell never sold more than a hundred or so copies. It’s such a buzz to be able to get this story out in front of readers again.

JL Merrow’s contributions to this anthology are superb, too. Her opening story, “Epiphany”, was one of the very first I ever read by her and it made a huge impression on me when I was starting out writing. I reckon the rest of you will love it too

Anyway, you can get your mitts on a copy for the bargain price of $0.99/£0.99 over on Amazon here: http://mybook.to/trulymadlyboys

Happy reading, peeps!

Jo xx

PS, I’ll be back with a catch-up post about what I’ve been up to soon, I promise! The house move all got a bit hectic and I had to step away from social media for a bit, but things are settling down now. We’re all safe, happy and healthy, though. Hope you’re all doing well too xxxx

The post New book out today! Me and JL do the Brit Boys thing again. appeared first on Josephine Myles.